Pope warns comfortable living causes 'gentrification of the heart'

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis warned against "gentrification of
the heart" as a consequence of comfortable living, and called
on the faithful to "touch the flesh of Christ" by caring for
the needy.

The pope's words came in a homily during Mass in St. Peter's
Square May 12, when he canonized the first Colombian saint,
as well as a Mexican nun and some 800 Italians martyred by
Ottoman Turks in the 15th century.

Mexico's St. Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala (1878-1963), the
pope said, gave up a "comfortable life to follow the call of
Jesus, taught people to love poverty, in order the more to
love the poor and the sick."

"How much damage does the comfortable life, well-being, do,"
the pope added, looking up from his prepared text. "The
gentrification of the heart paralyzes us."

The Mexican saint, known as Mother Lupita, "knelt on the
floor of the hospital before the sick, before the abandoned,
to serve them with tenderness and compassion," and in doing
so, "touched the flesh of Christ," he said.

Pope Francis said the Mexican founder of the Handmaids of St.
Margaret Mary and of the Poor sets an example for everyone
"not to retreat into oneself, into one's own problems, into
one's own ideas, into one's own interests in this little
world that has done us so much damage," but to share God's
love with the needy "through gestures of delicacy and sincere
affection and love."

The pope also praised St. Laura Montoya (1874-1949), the
"first saint born in the beautiful land of Colombia," as a
"spiritual mother of the indigenous peoples, in whom she
infused hope" and taught about God in a way that "respected
their culture and was not opposed to it."

"Mother Laura" founded the Missionary Sisters of Mary
Immaculate and St. Catherine of Siena, who today "live and
bring the Gospel to the most remote and needy places, as a
kind of vanguard of the church," he said.

"She teaches us to see the face of Jesus reflected in the
other," the pope said, "to overcome indifference and
individualism, welcoming everyone without prejudice or
constraints, with love, giving the best of ourselves and
above all, sharing with them the most valuable thing we have,
which is not our works or our organizations" but "Christ and
his Gospel."

Pope Francis also paid tribute to the approximately 800
people in Otranto, southern Italy, who in 1480 were
decapitated by invading Ottoman forces for refusing to
convert to Islam.

"Where did they find the strength to remain faithful?" the
pope asked. "Precisely in faith, which allows us to see
beyond the limits of our human eyes, beyond the boundaries of
earthly life, to contemplate the 'heavens opened,' as St.
Stephen said."

The pope then prayed for "those many Christians who, in these
times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer
violence," and asked God to "give them the courage and
fidelity to respond to evil with good."

Before praying the "Regina Coeli" at the end of Mass, Pope
Francis called on the Otranto martyrs to "help the beloved
Italian people look with hope to the future," and invoked the
intercession of the new Mexican and Colombian saints in
bringing peace to their troubled homelands.

Colombian and Mexican pilgrims, waving or wearing their
countries' flags, were notable in the crowd filling the
square on the sunny Sunday morning.

All the day's news saints "pose questions to our Christian
life," the pope said at the conclusion of his homily, which
he delivered in a mix of Spanish and Italian. "How am I
faithful to Christ? Am I able to show my faith with respect,
but also with courage? Am I attentive to others? Do I
recognize when someone is in need? Do I see in everyone
brothers and sisters to love?"